The Truth Is A Lie
by Joyyce
Summary: When Royce King II is found dead, Detective Jasper Whitlock is called in to help the investigation because of the high priority of the case. It seems to be simple, but is it really? And will he find more than just the person responsible? AU/AH
1. Wake up Call

_Summary: "When Royce King II is found dead, Detective Jasper Whitlock is called in to help the investigation because of the high priority of the case. It seems to be simple, but is it really? And will he find more than just the person responsible?"_

_Disclaimer: Of course I don't own it! I may have some physical likenesses to Stephenie Meyer, but I'm not her._

_**Chapter One – Wake-Up Call**_

It was well past my usual bedtime when I received a call from Emmett McCarthy, one of my old friends at the police force I used to be part of myself. I had resigned from the force after a particular painful incident, but I was still called on quite often to lend a hand.

Solving murders had always been my passion, so I was glad there was a way to be of service still, even though I was in no way obligated to quit. Emmett's phone call was more than welcome.

I could remember the conversation as if it was yesterday.

The shrill tone of the telephone woke me up. I would have been annoyed, had I not known that there was only one person who ever called this number. With that knowledge, it didn't take me long to find the phone in the darkness of my room and answer it.

"_Hello?"_

"_Hi Jasper. I'm sorry, I probably woke you up, didn't I?"_

He didn't sound very sorry, but since this wasn't a social call, and it probably meant there had been another murder they couldn't solve and could use my help with… Well, I could hardly be annoyed for that, now could I? I didn't have anything to do these days, and despite the fact that I despised murderers, I couldn't say I didn't enjoy the fact that they gave me something to do, however messed up that may seem.

"_You're right. You did. So. Which case do you need my help with?"_

"_Ah. Always the impatient one. I could have been calling for some other reason than a case though."_

"_Yes, you could. But you never do. So let's cut the crap and get to the point." I laughed._

"_True. Alright. Well… we've got ourselves a bit of a… problem, if that's what you want to call it."_

He hesitated, as if searching for the right words to explain this problem of his.

"_Umm.. Well, I'm guessing you've heard Royce King the second was murdered?"_

"_I have. I read an article on it in the newspaper the other day. Stabbed in the chest a half a dozen times a month or so ago?"_

"_Seven times, actually. See, that's the problem. That's all we know for certain, how he was killed. Apart from that, we've got nothing. There's no evidence whatsoever, but there are a whole lot of people with a motive to kill him it seems. The press is all over us, questioning whether we're actually doing something, since we haven't given any new information out since the announcement of his death and how he died. That's why we need your help." _

He sighed, obviously annoyed at something before continuing.

"_We're at a deadlock, the press is breathing down our necks, our bosses are anything but pleased, and I haven't even mentioned what the King family has been saying about us."_

He still seemed hesitant, which was very unlike him, but I thought I understood. Being involved in a high-profile case with my past… well, let's just say it was anything but ideal. If I hadn't been cooped up in this house barely worth the name for so long already, I would have probably thought it through first. But as it was, I didn't even think. All that came out of my mouth was_ "when do you want me there?"_

I heard Emmett exhale, as if he'd been holding his breath since the moment he'd finished his speech.

"_Let's see…"_

I heard him toggle on the keyboard of his laptop.

"_The next flight here leaves in three hours. Would you be able to make that?"_

I looked at my clock and noticed that would give me three hours to get there. Since the airport was only half an hour's drive from here and I never took much with me, I figured it wouldn't be a problem.

"_Not a problem."_

"_Great. I'll pick you up from the airport."_

"_Okay. I'll see you in a few hours then."_

"_You will. I won't need to stand there waving a sign, will I?"_

_I knew he was kidding, but I responded anyway._

"_I'm sure I'll manage to find you without it," I laughed " and even if I don't see you, I'm sure I'll hear you."_

_He chuckled. _

"_I guess you will. Oh, and Jasper?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Thanks man. I owe you."_

I didn't get a chance to reply since he'd already put down his phone. I sighed and started packing.

As I was driving to the airport, I couldn't help but think about the case. Who could have killed Royce King?


	2. Meeting Emmett Again

_Disclaimer: Of course I don't own it! I may have some physical likenesses to Stephenie Meyer, but I'm not her._

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_**Chapter two – Meeting Emmett again**_

I got to the airport with more than enough time to spare – as predicted - and was checked in after only ten minutes.

As I got settled in the chairs in what I always referred to as the waiting room, I watched the people around me. A woman by the large windows caught my eye. She was clutching her phone to her ear with one hand, while she was gesturing wildly with the other. I figured she was in discussing with whoever she was talking to.

She fell still all of a sudden. Her phone dropped from her hand, and she kept shaking her head. Before I knew it, she was on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. A man I hadn't noticed until then rushed towards her and pulled her in her lap. She threw her arms around his neck while he stroked her back and rocked back and forward.

From his behaviour, I could see he obviously loved her very much. She hadn't been on the ground for two seconds before he was already running towards her. He didn't question her, he just held her. None of them seemed to speak, they just sat there. But the way they held each other, I felt as if I was intruding their moment by watching, so I looked away.

That's one thing I hadn't missed. Watching people who are obviously in love, it hurt. It hurt to see other people happy while I'd had my heart broken by someone I would've given my life for. I knew it sounded awfully bitter of me, but it was just how I felt. That was one reason why I loved solving murders. It gave me something to do, it gave me an excuse to not think about my sad little lonely and loveless life, which was exactly what I was doing now.

I sighed and closed my eyes, willing time to go faster. I must have been sitting there longer than I had thought, as my plane was called not long after.

When I finally made it on the plane and found my seat, I was glad to find it was a window seat. I always enjoyed watching the clouds when I was on a plane. They fascinated me, in a way. At a certain height, they resembled cotton candy, which always brought back some happy memories from my childhood, reminding me of the time when my life wasn't complicated.

I had flown over to Chicago over a dozen times now, so I knew it wasn't a long flight. It seemed as though, as soon as the plane was completely in the air, it was already time for it to descend. This time wasn't an exception.

So, before I knew it, the plane had arrived in Chicago.

After getting my bag, it didn't take me long to find Emmett. As predicted, he was easily to spot. I was surprised I didn't hear him before I saw him, but just as I was starting to think he'd finally learned it wasn't a good idea to be as loud as he usually was, in public, he yelled "Jasper! Over here!"

I sighed and shook my head before I started to walk over to him.

"You do know I'd seen you long before you started yelling?"

"Yeah. And your point is?"

I should have known Emmett still wouldn't understand why he couldn't start yelling in the middle of a crowd. Or anywhere else for that matter. He was an excellent cop, but he could be so clueless sometimes.

"Never mind Emmett. Let's get going, shall we?"

"Of course."

During the walk to his car, Emmett surprised me by actually talking at a normal sound level.

"I've gotten the guestroom ready for you, and if you want, there's still some leftover pizza."

"Leftover pizza? You? Are you kidding?"

He looked over at me sheepishly.

"I might have overestimated my appetite and ordered a bit too much pizza this evening. Apparently even I can't eat three large pizzas, even if my last meal was sixteen hours ago."

I shook my head at him.

"You may be the size of a bear, but that doesn't mean your stomach is."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep making fun of the big guy. Just be glad I've gotten something to eat now or I would be comparable with a bear just out of hibernation. Hungry, vicious and something you want to stay far, far away from."

I laughed at him. He'd always had this thing for bears, something I never really understood. But he had a point with his comparison, I knew how he could be when he missed one meal, I could only imagine how bad it would get when he missed an entire day's worth of meals.

When we finally reached what Emmett said was his car, my jaw fell to the floor. In front of me, where I had expected to see the classic car he always drove, was a jeep.

"Wow. That's… wow."

"I see you like my new baby?" he said, stroking the hood of the jeep.

"Hell yeah. But isn't it… uhm…" I couldn't find the right words to say it without hurting his feelings. For being such a bulky man, he didn't like it when people said something negative about something he loved. And I could tell he loved his jeep. After struggling with my words for a few seconds, I finally managed to complete my sentence. "isn't it difficult to find a parking space big enough for this baby?"

It wasn't what I had intended to say at first, but it would do just as well. I'd dreamt of one of these myself, but driving it around in the city didn't seem like the best idea. Suppose someone tampered with it? It happened enough to older cars, imagine the appeal this thing would have, especially knowing a cop drove it. People always thought cop cars were safe from vandalism, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

"Yeah, it's a bit… tricky. But it's worth it though. Now, let's get going shall we?"

The drive to his house didn't take us more than half an hour, what with Emmett's driving.

As we walked in the house, I remembered the first time I sat in the car with him. I'd had to close my eyes after a few minutes, because I kept thinking I was going to die – which wouldn't be surprising, considering the speed he was driving at, the distance he kept from the car in front of him, and the way he switched lanes.

It was only when he stopped the car that I noticed I had been gripping the sides of the car seats the entire drive. Emmett actually laughed at me when he noticed I wasn't getting out of the car, while I just stared at him in shock. We did have an interesting conversation when I finally made it out of the car back then.

_"How in the name of hell did you ever get a driver's license?" I stared at him in shock, while he just smirked._

_"Oh, come on. My driving is not that bad." He rolled his eyes at me before his expression turned thoughtful. "Actually… my driving instructor said he was impressed with me."_

_He actually looked smug when he said that, but I doubted he was impressed in a good way._

_"Are you sure he wasn't scared to death?"_

_He looked confused. "Yeah… Why would he have been?"_

_My mouth fell open. Did he really not see why his driving would be considered scary? Even though 'scary' seemed like the understatement of the century._

_"Emmett. I hate to break it to you, but you were driving 70 miles above the speed limit, you hardly left any space between your own car and the one in front of you, and you didn't look in any of your mirrors when you switched lanes. That would be considered scary driving."_

_The look on his face told me he thought I was crazy, when obviously I wasn't the crazy one here._

_"How can I leave no space in between when there's no one driving in front of me?"_

_"That's probably because they usually switch lanes when they notice your crazy ass is driving behind them. That still doesn't change the fact that, when there **is** someone driving in front of you, there is no space between your car and his."_

_He scoffed. "And how would you even notice that? You were sitting there with your eyes closed the entire time. You were probably dreaming."_

_I rolled my eyes at him. "People who are asleep don't have a death grip on the car seat, Emmett. And for your information, my eyes were only closed because I didn't feel like thinking I was going to die every time I saw you do some crazy ass maneuver that should be illegal, and probably is."_

_"Yeah, yeah, whatever" was all the answer he gave, before saying I should get settled in the guest room._

I didn't ever want to get back in the car with him after that, but I didn't have much of a choice. I spent most of the time examining the car's interior the times after that, and this time was no different.

I was glad when we reached his house, because I really was a bit hungry by now. I doubted I would enjoy the leftover pizza Emmett had lying around there though. I knew what he usually ordered on his pizza… I never did manage to understand why someone would want to eat sardines, chorizo, onions, Mexican peppers and chicken on one pizza. It made me feel sick in the stomach, but Emmett insisted it was the perfect pizza.

Obviously, his idea of 'perfect' was slightly… odd, just like Emmett himself. With the difference that Emmett wasn't odd in a weird way – well, most of the time he wasn't. I always thought Emmett needed a woman by his side, who could deal with his tendencies to always want to be in control and have everything go his way. Unlike most people, he didn't need someone to balance him out, he needed someone who could take him on without breaking a sweat. It was only too bad there weren't a lot of women like that out there.

Not that I was the right person to talk about a man needing a woman in his life. It had been years since my last relationship, and I hadn't dated since. I was a firm believer of love at first sight, though no one would think that of me, I was a romantic at heart, I just knew how to hide it.

After putting my bag in the guest room, I decided to check the kitchen for some food that was worth eating. I doubted Emmett would have a fully-stocked fridge, but I figured there might be something edible in there. As it turns out, there was some cheese in there and even though I couldn't find any bread in any of the closets, there was some in the freezer.

Just when I was trying to get some slices of bread out of the bad without breaking them, Emmett walked in.

"I see you've managed to find something edible?"

"I have. I have to say, I was surprised to find bread anywhere in this house."

He chuckled. "I don't usually have it lying around. I guess my mom must have stuck some in the freezer when she was last here. Always worried about how I'm eating. Not that I ever look in my freezer unless I want ice cream."

Why didn't that surprise me? I hadn't met his mother, but I knew she didn't like Emmett's lifestyle, especially not the way he ate. Take-out was his life-line, because he couldn't cook and didn't have time for it anyway.

While I stuck the bread and cheese in the oven, Emmett sat at his table with his leftover 'perfect' pizza.

"Don't you want to heat that?"

"This baby doesn't need to be warm to be deliciously perfect, Jasper."

He rolled his eyes at me, as if I was missing the obvious. Well, apparently, I **was** missing the obvious, because I really didn't see why people would eat cold pizza, but I decided to let it go.

As soon as my food was done, I joined Emmett at the table. As we ate – and I tried not to let my appetite be influenced too much by what he was eating – he informed me that he would give me a run-down of all the information they had on the case the next day. Apparently, he had gotten the day off especially for that.

He doubted we'd need a full day, but it was obvious he was looking forward to the next day. As was I. I had to admit my interest in this case was increasing with every thought I had about it, and when I finally made it to bed, it was all I could think about once again.

_[AN]  
Since I don't work with a Beta, it is always more than likely that there are some mistakes in here. If you see some, **please, please** let me know!  
Still love reviews by the way! I don't know what you think about this one, because no one has reviewed yet! You no make me happy guys! :(  
(Alright, I suck)  
And I'm pretty sure it's not written masculin enough. That's why I need reviews! So **please, please** help me out here!  
[/AN]_


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